David Montgomery is an asshat

[Omar 382]

Everything Phillies president David Montgomery said in the recent Inquirer series

On whether he is worried about moves' impact on attendance: "Does it cause you to say, 'We just don't want to play all young kids and get rid of everybody for fear we win 60 games'? Yeah, that's a factor."

 

[Cedrique]

That's an interesting comment. He might be underestimating the value of tv viewers and overestimating the value of fan attendance. In other words, a 75 win team with aging stars from previous years might sell more tickets than a 60 win team of young players but at some point I think the tv viewership may actually increase by playing the younger guys. I don't have the data to test it but I know that with the internet people are much more aware of prospects than they ever were before and there are cases of people like _phillies_ and some other fans who say they don't watch every game on tv any more but probably would if they could see some of the prospects playing for the big club. At some point building a team based on how the hardcore tv viewers want to do it may become a better financial decision than trying to keep more of the tickets sold. (who knows, maybe we are already getting to that point)


Edit: my reasoning for the 75 win team selling more tickets is just that I believe the casual fan is more likely to take their kids to the games if there are some familiar names on the team.

 

[Omar 382]

That's an interesting comment. He might be underestimating the value of tv viewers and overestimating the value of fan attendance. In other words, a 75 win team with aging stars from previous years might sell more tickets than a 60 win team of young players but at some point I think the tv viewership may actually increase by playing the younger guys. I don't have the data to test it but I know that with the internet people are much more aware of prospects than they ever were before and there are cases of people like _phillies_ and some other fans who say they don't watch every game on tv any more but probably would if they could see some of the prospects playing for the big club. At some point building a team based on how the hardcore tv viewers want to do it may become a better financial decision than trying to keep more of the tickets sold. (who knows, maybe we are already getting to that point)

Good point. And I know Montgomery is a douche, but in his defense, which prospects could play with the big club? Ruf is hurt. James Franco sucks. Perkins has struggled, Biddle has struggled, Altherr has struggled, Crawford is too young. I guess our only option is Jake "Jimmie Foxx" Fox.

 

[Cedrique]

Good point. And I know Montgomery is a douche, but in his defense, which prospects could play with the big club? Ruf is hurt. James Franco sucks. Perkins has struggled, Biddle has struggled, Altherr has struggled, Crawford is too young. I guess our only option is Jake "Jimmie Foxx" Fox.

True, but he's assuming that if you traded all those other guys you'd hopefully get a couple good young guys for them.

 

[Omar 382]

A guy like Pederson in right field would probably bring in more revenue than the combination of Byrd and Utley. It's close, but especially if he could produce right away, he would be a huge hit.

 

[WestCoastPhan]

Montgomery lives in a bubble. He currently has a boring product and it shows in the attendance and I'm sure in the TV viewership. For me personally, I only put the game on to watch the younger guys (in particular: Asche, Diekmann, and Giles) and if they had more good young players, I would be watching more. I bought 2 game tickets before the season started for when the phils come to AT&T Park in August. Probably, if it were now, I would not have bought them.